#algirdas bakas

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Algirdas Bakas

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Lithuanian photographer and volunteer Algirdas Bakas on his mission in Bucha, Ukraine (FB post):

Please treat this as a historical document. Im trying to be as impartial as possible.  All interviews have been transcribed from audio recording to the best of my ability.

2022.04.17

The pain of Bucha.

On the phone with a doctor Arina from Bucha.

“The last pharmacy closed with the first bombs, over 6 weeks now, we are in terrible need of blood pressure regulating, pain relieving, heart function supporting and other medicine people depend on. I have nothing to give them”.

She sends the order to the pharmacy and I promise to come right away. The main highway is closed resulting in 20km of incoming traffic. Its getting late as I deliver the medicine to a make shift hospital in Vorzel. Theres no way I can make it back to Kiev before curfew. Might as well stay in Bucha.

Its eerie. Streets have been cleaned but I cant stop aligning the images form the news to the reality of now. As night falls Bucha its nothing but zombie town, with a few drunks staggering around pushing shopping trolleys in front of them. I stop to take a picture and a young guy with an AK appears out of nowhere. Lithuania was one the first countries to react helping Ukraine with all we could so saying Im from Litva immediately summons an approving smile and a nod.

“Stay safe, curfew starts soon and theres a lot of marauding going on at the moment”.

Ok.

I arrive to a block of flats where doctor Arina lives. Since the gas and electricity were cut off, theres a constant fire pit going on at the entrance, so people can make tea, cook and get warm.

“Our sniper was sitting right over there at the top of the unfinished 16 floor house, they were trying to shoot him down and hit our house many times, thats why top floors are destroyed”.

Men at a fire offer me a cup of sweet tea and many stories. Oleg remembers how he was fleeing Bucha at the peak of attacks and saw a Ukrainian air defense pilot destroy a whole squad of tanks and gas trucks.

“He flew through once, turned around, got very low, turned the plane sideways and fired 6 rockets setting the whole parade ablaze. The noise of the plane and exploding gas trucks made me slightly death on one ear”.

Sergey was working in Kiev when Bucha fell in the first days of March and lost contact with his family, wife and two little sons.

“For two days I was trying to get inside Bucha after loosing contact with them, soldiers wouldn’t let me in, they were saying I will surely die, but whats the point of living if my family is dead, they are all I have. Finally they let me trough the bridge and  I receive a phone call from my mother in law to say they were evacuated to Poland. In a few days all hell broke loose here, they were killing everyone who was on the street”.

After a night in my van I find a bigger and slightly more sober crowd at the fire and the stories continue.

“They were shocked to see we have asphalt roads, electricity and microwave ovens in every house, they couldn't believe it. Everyone who stayed in Bucha had to tie a white piece of fabric on the doors. Houses without them were kicked in and all was stolen. They took everything, washing machines, TVs, spoons, slippers, even used underwear! What they couldnt take was destroyed. We sat in the basement with our doors locked with screws from inside, daytime we had to go out looking for food, we washed the spoiled meat in vinegar and ate it. Nobody was ready and had piles of food stocked up. We ate anything we could find. After the city got freed and President came, we slowly started receiving aid.”

Fried eggs are being made when women called Ira joins us. She says she cried all night and every night since finding out her only son Bogdan (24) was killed 60 days ago. He was at the front line working with Javelin launcher.

“He called us every night, and on the first of March - no call. We still had some network coverage, but almost everyone had run out of power to charge their phones. Somehow I got in touch with his sergeant, he apologized and told me Bogdan has stepped on a land mine and died. I have travelled for days to the hospital for recognition, we had to pass 35 bloc posts to get there, but there wasn't much left to recognize. I couldn't recognize my own son..! God, where are we going to do the funeral reception, here on the bench?!” 

A mistake was made filling out the documents and family cant burry Bogdan before its untangled, holding the mother in limbo. She asks not to be photographed. It wont bring her son back.

Food leftovers are being used to feed neiborhood animals. Theres a huge dog and bunch of chicken to be fed just across the road. Since the massive dog Boss wont let anyone in Ira ties the pot with food to a wire and pushes it underneath the gate. To feed the chicken she has to climb on the roof.

Im always trying to gather info about the situation in humanitarian aid points where ever I go. It helps me understand the situation and how best to help. This one in Bucha is set up in a gymnasium and even though the queue is long, people can get enough food to get by. I chat with Ira who runs the place.

“Its really touching, we have aid arriving from all over the world, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Brasil.. Two crazy guys drove from Spain in a little cargo van stuffed with food. We received an ambulance stuffed with army vests and clothing for the soldiers. Finally we have enough food for everyone who comes hungry”. 

Ira, who runs a hair salon in the time of peace, hasn't left Bucha and had whiteness a fair share of horrors herself. 

Doctor Arina arrived and we go for a short walk around town. All the shops we pass were broken into. Many houses are destroyed. She recalls receiving the first batch of soldiers with shot wounds, limbs missing, some lost their minds.

“I was not prepared for it. I was taught everything in school and I had the knowledge, but I wasn't ready”.

Trees are starting to bloom and she says the town was blossoming too. Now its stained with blood and horrible pain.

“Imagine, they were planting land mines under some of the dead bodies on the street. You go looking for your missing relative, say you find your loved one shot laying on the street and want to bring the body to a safe place - boom. Theres many more things I can tell you more if you're ready? They would throw a gas bomb in the basement where people were hiding and opened fire as they were scrambling out into fresh air. They would shoot in the legs to watch them suffer and bleed to death. They came into a kinder garden just here, shot the woman in charge and fired rounds into the kids books to send the message about Ukrainian language. You’ve  probably heard about the gang raping, where 15 of them would rape a young girl and leave her bleeding to death. We have many, many stories like that..”

Ukrainian borsch is being made as we arrive back to the house. Neighbors are constantly cooking something to share with 5-8 families since nobody has gas or electricity at home. Theres no concept of ownership, everyone brings what they have to make a dish. People are united in pain.

I insist Im not hungry but they pour me a plate first anyway. Its probably the best borsch I’ve ever had. Definitely in the top 3.

After lunch a young guy Max takes me to see another part of town and whats left of his school where russian army was based. The streets are scarred with tank tracks, fences broken.

“Thank God local government has collected the corpses, few days ago it was really scary”.

Theres some chance Bucha wasn't de-mined 100% so we tread lightly trying to stick to the pavement. We pass through brand new blocks of flats, windows broken, burned and destroyed cars in the parking lots to reach the 3rd school where r.f. soldiers were based. Yard is full of ammo boxes, broken glass, empty bottles, shells, russian army out of date food packs, bullets and boots. A military shovel is sticking out of the ground. After some hesitation we enter the school. Its a mess. They didn't leave one door unopened. Ones they could no open were taken down with a frame. Class by class we go through the whole school witnessing thievery of the lowest degree. Computers have hard drives and chips removed, Ukrainian flags soiled, equipment broken. On the top floor we discover a pirates treasure room full of stolen goods, TVs, washing machines, mattresses. I guess they left in a hurry.

Only the ussr museum on the top floor remains in tact. I cant help but wonder what was going through the soldiers minds looking at all this memorabilia of an army that not so long ago were brothers in arms.

[nowayzinedine]

Garage cuts.

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